National commander sees history re-enacted in the air over La Fiere Bridge.
Two World War II veterans – each 101 years old – sat in wheelchairs and gazed across the Merderet River plain in Normandy, France, on June 7. Waves of planes appeared overhead, each dropping paratroopers from America and various countries around the world.
Thousands came to watch them re-enact the critical D-Day jumps of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions that secured the bridgeheads of Normandy and protected Allied forces who came ashore at Utah and Omaha Beach 82 years ago. And when spectators were not looking skyward, they lined up to talk to the centenarians, get their autographs and snap photos on their phones.
“Around here, they treat us like kings and queens,” said Kanopolis, Kan., veteran Elias Hernandez. “Other places, I don’t know. But what I have seen and experienced has been on the positive side. I’ll come back again next year – oh yeah.”
It was his first time back in Normandy since 1945.
Sitting next to him was David Marshall of Baldwin, N.Y., who entered the European Theater of World War II as an Army infantry soldier at Omaha Beach where thousands of Americans were killed in the first wave on June 6, 1944.
This was Marshall’s second year in a row returning to Normandy. On his first trip, he remembered a moment when others in his group made their way onto Omaha Beach. “I stood on the boardwalk, and somebody said to me, ‘Don’t you want to go down on the beach?’ I said, ‘No, I landed here. Big difference.’”
American Legion National Commander Dan K. Wiley and his group spent Sunday among the World War II veterans, active-duty paratroopers and people from around the world who came to the historic battleground for the annual jumps. Following the exhibition – which culminated with a show by the U.S. Army’s Golden Knights skydiving team – Wiley was among U.S. and French dignitaries who placed wreaths at the famous Iron Mike statue that stands near La Fiere Bridge.
The national commander expressed gratitude for the French who annually fill the D-Day anniversary week with ceremonies and remembrances across the Cotentin Peninsula. He also expressed appreciation for those who travel to Normandy to re-enact the low-altitude jumps before massive crowds, and the lasting effect of the spectacle.
“No, 1, the French are eternally grateful for what the Americans did with regard to humanity and pushing fascism off the continent,” Wiley said. “They remember. A lot of these people were very, very young – some of them 2 and 3 years old – when the Americans and the British and the Canadians came here to liberate them. They are eternally grateful but also appreciate the re-enactment of the jumps … because it relives and reminds people of the history behind what happened here. I think that’s important, that for each succeeding generation that we do not forget what transpired in Europe in World War II. You had the worst of humanity with Hitler and what he did, and then you had the best of humanity here on the beaches of Normandy and in the countryside … people who laid down their own lives for freedom. I think it’s important for future generations to remember that.”
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Among the exhibition parachutists in Normandy during the week of the 82nd anniversary of D-Day was Chuck Fowler, chairman of The American Legions National Small Business Task Force, and a member of Washington, D.C., American Legion Post 1.
“I came to fill one of my bucket-list items,” Fowler said. “Forty years, I’ve wanted to come. I’d heard about it but never had the opportunity, never had a unit deploy here for it. But at age almost-60 I got a chance to jump and so I got an airborne refresher and came and jumped for D-Day.”
Fowler’s “chance of a lifetime” came June 5 from a vintage C-47 on a blustery day near Picauville. “It was one of the original 82nd Airborne drop zones that was used during D-Day,” he said. “Very rarely do (re-enactors) actually use that drop zone. This is the first time in years that they have used it. It is a very historic drop zone – an honor, really, to jump there. It was amazing.”
It also was by no means easy. “The wind was brisk,” Fowler said. “The gusts were real. I was doing about 13 knots forward and still being blown backwards about four or five knots.”
Like the national commander, Fowler was impressed by the worldwide appeal of the re-enactments. “One of the most amazing things about this is seeing that it’s not just the French. There are people from all over Europe here. They are dressed as Americans. They are celebrating Americans. To see this much support for liberty is truly inspiring. You see the crowds – tens of thousands of people here all to commemorate liberty, the liberation of France in this case, but really all of Europe. This was the beginning of the end of the end of the Nazi regime and fascism in Europe. So, I think that is why people come from all over. I have met people from virtually every country in Europe here. To see so many liberty-minded folks who appreciate the sacrifices that were made is nothing short of inspiring.”
- Honor & Remembrance